Plungercam: DIY Tilt-Shift Lens

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Plungercam: DIY Tilt-Shift Lens

Tilt-shift photography is all what all the cool kids are doing right now. Originally (and still) used to control the plane of focus by tilting the front part of the lens, or shifting it up and down, the tilt-shift lens finds use in architectural and high-end product photography.

It also makes some amazing special effects, enabling you to make a real-life scene look like a tiny model, for example, and is so popular that there is even an iPhone app to apply the effect in post. But the real lenses give the best results, mostly because of the analog unpredictability they introduce. The problem is they cost a fortune.

The Plungercam is a DIY version, using a second-hand lens, a T-mount (camera lens-mount adapter) and some plumbing supplies (hence the name). Version 1.0 used a plastic body-cap to hold the assembly in place, but the T-mount means it is now much more secure on the camera. The lens itself is squished around inside the rubber tubing until you get the effect you want, and is strictly just a tilt-lens (no shift up or down). Think of this as a home-made Lensbaby and you’ll know what to expect.

It was made by Flickr user Captin Nod, and here on his photostream you can see the results of this lens shooting video on a DSLR.